PKDicktionary

I have collected three different versions of the file and a .pdf of the file version. Many of the more current references point to http://downlode.org/Etext/pkdicktionary.html which appears to be the most recent and the version that I will create ours from.

Please leave any new additions to the PKDicktionary in the comments section. I’m not sure that the email addresses listed are still active anymore

Enjoy!

The PKDicktionary

About this file

I am not the author of this file. That person was Simon Hickinbotham, who originally maintained it at his homepage at the University of York. Since it is no longer extant except for a few bootleg copies floating about on the Web, it’s clear that he no longer has the time to maintain it. So, in his stead, I have given it a new home and cleaned it up a bit. I am slowly going through it to add proper inter-item hyperlinking for each reference, and cleaning up a few typos, so if this note is still here, I haven’t finished yet. Feel free to email me any comments you may have.

And now, over to Simon:

This is a glossary of terms used by Philip K Dick (hereafter referred to as PKD). The description of each term is based on my (or someone else’s) best guess at the meaning, with opinions, criticisms, bad jokes etc. Hopefully this approach will keep the thing interesting, instead of it being just a dry, dusty description of words that PKD used. It could be argued that some of the words here are not exclusive to PKD, but I’ve included them because I think he put a spin on the usual meaning. What I’m trying to achieve is an overview of the ideas that Dick grappled with – all of them, even the silly/trivial ones – via the terms that he used to label them.

To save my blunt and bloody fingers, I’ve found it necessary to provide a reference section so I don’t keep having to type out the full title of a PKD work. References to works where a term is used are represented by a code: A number refers to the year the work was first published, followed by a sensible four-letter reduction of the title of the work. I’m trying to give brief descriptions of each story I refer to – but sometimes I ramble on a bit!

A

In a previous “dream” (truly, a vision experience) I saw the mysterious word ALBEMUTH. Maybe I mentioned this. They let me take a crack at decoding it on my own. Here’s what I got: Al is a common prefix for star names, it being from the Arabic meaning “the.” So ALBEMUTH is a star. “albe” is close to “alba” which is L. for “white.” So we have “the white.” The star we call FOMALHAUT means “Whale’s Mouth.” “Muth” is close in sound to “mouth.” MOBY-DICK was called “The great white whale.” So ALBEMUTH means “the great white way,” which is “Broadway,” so it can be finally decyphered as: “The Milky Way.” Or. “A star in the Milky Way.” Formalhaut is in the Pisces Constellation. Pisces means “fish.” The fish sign was the original secret sign of the Christians. Thus ALBEMUTH is a cypher for Jesus.

Not much more to say about this other than it makes no sense at all. Surely no one would find this “deciphering” very convincing — perhaps not even Phil. It looks like he must have already decided that “ALBEMUTH” did mean “JESUS” and then constructed this bogus logic to reach that answer. If you are prepared to root through three separate and dissimilar languages (Arabic, Latin and English — not to mention American slang) you can ultimately reach any conclusion you want. Incidentally, the English word “mouth” actually derives from the Old English word “muth.” Phil must have missed that bit of historical linguistic lore. Probably used an abridged dictionary.

ANDERSON THEORY

Identifies each sub-form of ‘phrenia with a sub-form of religion. The primary form is heliocentric (sun worship), where the sun is seen as the patients father. Other forms include Magna mater ‘phrenia. 68WEBY

ANDROID

An artificial human 55SOLO. In 68DADO they are used by humans as slave labor on other planets. Sometimes they escape and get down to Earth where they are killed by bounty hunters. Technology is so advanced that the only distinguishing feature of androids compared to humans is that they are (supposedly) not able to empathize with others.

ANT TANK

Vast underground container, acting as a refuge from nuclear holocaust, the ant part is a contraction of
antiseptic. (64PENT)

AQUASOMA 3

A previous polyencephalic world, where we were all dolphin-like mammals in warm seas. Not at all like
Delmak-O. (70MAZE)

ARTIFORG

An artificial organ. When mentioned in 64PENT, they are no longer made and are therefore reserved for the top brass in the government. In 66NWLY, they usually insert themselves. People can live for two hundred years with artiforgs- like Virgil Ackerman, who was born (like PKD) in the late 1920’s but is still alive when Dr Sweetscent travels forward in time to 2155.

Chosen by the Challenge Convention, their job is to murder the Quizmaster. If an assasin succeeds he gets 1 million gold dollars and the “applause and acclamation of a whole cvilization”. Men only can apply.

fully automated factory in 55AFAC. You also find autofac rockets and stores in 56JAPE.

AUTONOMIC

After the autonomic nervous system; It means Intelligent. PKD used it to describe a range of things, e.g. In 69UBIK, there’s an autonomic pharmacy. I think that PKD only used autonomic where (sometimes a very low level of) intelligence is implied. But that’s only my opinion. There was an interesting article in New Scientist recently (1995?), where if the ‘right’ amount of noise is introduced to artificial neural networks, they become capable of creative thought. Phil set his stories in worlds where science had defined such vague concepts as intelligence and creativity, worked out how to bottle such things, and put them into machines. 65STIG

B

BAG PLAGUE

Non – existent biological weapon invented by the Yance-men to prevent the masses from leaving their ant tanks.
Symptoms: “those viruses get in and cause your head to expand until it pops like a blown up paper
bag”.64PENT

A creature which “prints” or copies any item 56PAPR. Such creatures exist (but might not have the same name) in 65STIG, but the only thing they can’t copy is the skin of a certain fungus, which has to be used as money. Similar unicellular creatures are mentioned in 66NWLY, where they are the principal means of mass production used by the Tijuana Fur and Dye Co.

A super-hero-genre comic book that turns out to be the source of advanced weapons
design.67ZAPG

BOTTLE

Twitched to select the number of a power card, the owner of which becomes Quizmaster. Twitched at regular intervals unless a new Quizmaster is needed. Not really a bottle, but a complex mechanism based on Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle – the movement of subatomic particles, using a Plimp board. It’s a “socialised instrument of chance”, and part of the whole M-Game. The botle chooses random individuals at random intervals. 55SOLO

Ominous structure that exists outside the colonists’ compound in 70MAZE. It’s grey and large – a cube almost with odd spires from heat sources. There’s activity (machinery) within – “a factory?”. Tiny animated replicas of the building invade the compound, projecting tiny cannons and firing beams. When looked at under a microscope, these miniatures are inscribed “made at Terra 35082R”. The real building is protected by a decoy phantasm device- If you don’t approach it, it reveals itself. There’s a sign above the door that entices the reader in. Susie Smart thinks the sign says WHIPPERY. Seth Morely ready WINERY – a wine tasting room. Maggie Walsh reads WITTERY – a room of absolute knowledge. Wade Fraser reads STOPPERY – where the mentally ill are “stopped”. Mary Morley (Seth’s spiteful wife) reads WITCHERY – where control of people through formulas and incantations are learnt. Ignatz Thugg reads HIPPERY HOPPERY – “where people hop onto animals for youknowwhat”. Betty Jo Berm reads MEKISSERY – mekkis is the hittite word for power – the font of the universe. Each reader believes that only he/she should enter – the others wouldn’t understand. Seth Morley suspects later that the building is an asylum that they all escaped from (but that would be too much like 64CLAN).
It seems that the building is the major manifestation of the unease among the ships crew. It wasn’t designed into Delmak-O deliberately. That’s why it has all these dream-like qualities associated with it. As Delmak-O disintegrates, Seth Moley sees everyone returning to the building, (and therefore their own psychoses?), but the building disintegrates before they enter, just as they are crossing a river. I expected the role of the building to be explained in more depth later in the book, but it’s just described as the Boeing plant on Proxima 10 where the Persus 9 was built, and where the crew boarded it. I suspect that PKD originally planned to make more of it than that.

C

a pop entertainment (e.g., a TV show) with an adventure or sci-fi theme.

CEPHALOCHROMOSCOPE

(Cephscope). An electronic gadget equipped with a screen upon which graphical, coloured representations of the user’s thoughts and brain patterns are displayed. The purpose is to bring the user into a relaxing and pleasurable state of mind. Cephscopes are very expensive and considered as valuable household objects. Altec Corp. is the main manufacturer. 77SCAN

A means of challenging the quizmaster that needs to be set up to select a new assassin. The rule is “one assassin at a time, chosen by public convention” – or a violation has to be proved. You can arrange conventions to name the assassin of your choice. Teeps find out every strategy – they discover you as soon as you begin playing – so they force you to act randomly. Assasins lose the M-Game to teeps because there are 80 teeps to one assassin – even so occasionally an assassin wins. If you break the rules of the Convention you’re out of the game for life.

The male descendants of Major Strieter, the founder of morec in 56JAPE. humourless, devout as machines, dressed in drab khaki, they have a vague police-like role.

COMMERCIALS

Mechanical flies that the ads agencies release in 64SIMA. They buzz out high-pitched adverts, or try to before people destroy them by swatting them, shooting them or stepping on them. Interesting idea, commercials as physical pests. They tend to be able to squeeze into people’s personal spaces, though car windows, doors and so on. One of the characters in 64SIMA develops a psychotic episode in which he believes he has a terrible body odor which nearly debilitates him after hearing one of these commercials.

In 70MAZE, according to Specktowsky, “we are prisoners of our own preconceptions and expectations”. This is a condition of the Curse in the theology of the book. The Intercessor will release us from this condition (see that entry for more).

D

DARK-HAIRED GIRL

PKD is supposed to have an obsession with a “dark-haired girl”, supposed by some to be his dead twin sister or an amalgam of his wives, or the particular appearence of girls that PKD was attracted to. It’s odd that this philosophical writer was attracted to “Dark haired girls” regardless of their personality – is this why DHGs are often spiteful evil and unpredictable?. I’ve not read of any instances where PKD says “yes, I put dark-haired girls in my books when I want a character based on…” though. In 56JAPE we see a brief early DHG as Gretchen Malparto. In 64WDMS, the DHG is the grand-daughter of a dead man who’s ghostly thoughts are picked up by a radio telescope. She is an ex-drug addict who had a near-death experience herself. In 68WEBY it’s Pris Frauenzimmer, a particularly dark DHG, who loathes Luois Rosen, her besotted admirer who even hallucinates about her. In 77SCAN, the DHG is Donna the drug dealer, whom Bob Arctor loves but is “too ugly” to have a hope with. Donna steals everything she can lay her hands on and finds ingenious ways of making money from her thefts.

DAY OF AUDIT

The final period of time in Specktowsky’s theology, in which the heavens roll back and all creatures are reconciled with the original Deity from whose unity of being everything has
come.70MAZE

DELMAK-O

Planet on which the main events of 70MAZE took place. Later in the novel, we find that it is really Terra. Still later we find that the name was made up by drawing random letters from the ship’s computer.

..,Japanese made, all-transistorised, is how Louis Rosen thought of his .38 pistol when threatening to shoot Sam Barrows in 68WEBY. Barrows checked and found out that the Coast Army Arsenal actually had such a thing, and wondered how Rosen got hold of one. It homes in on your (unique) brain-waves..

F

To keep emigrants to Mars from going batty in their near-isolation, they take “famnexdo”s with them. Famnexdos are family replicas made of simulacra i.e., Family Next Door. The term appears in 64SIMA, but the idea crops up again in 68WEBY

10th planet in our system. Also a book by Preston. It glows green with radioactive minerals, orbits at twice the dstance of pluto. The Voices say flame disc was carried across to the sol system by them -> an anomaly

FLAPPLE

A personal flying machine. Sometimes they are AUTONOMIC, sometimes they aren’t. Described in 64PENT as “fruit-fly like”. Gives rise to such terms as “disemplappled”.

The evil god in the theology of 70MAZE. Entropy is his “method”. The FD was called into being (“awakened”) by God’s act of creation. He entered the universe and hence time to corrupt it so that it was no longer the image of the Mentufacturer. It’s not made clear whether FD is an aspect of god, or was self-creating. Tony Dunklewelt saw the FD in his trances, and clamed that there was a god-above-god that included the FD as well as the three conventional forms of god. The FD is absolutely-not-god, but since this is a form of being and god contains all being, god EQUALS not-god. woo.

In 76DEUS, this was the “Great Objectless Bomb” designed by Carelton
Lufteufel. Used in WWIII, this bomb detonated high in the atmosphere, spreading
vast amounts of lethal radiation across entire continents.
“Lufteufel” is German. “Luft” is “air”, and “teufel” is “devil”. “Lufteufel”
may be an “airdemon”, but it is not to be intended as an “air elemental”, more
of a winged beast, a “demonic dragon”.

GOD-WORLD

planet where “non-humanoid quasi-biological ultra-sentient” life forms live – so advanced that we think of them as gods. Prayers in 70MAZE were spread via the god-worlds to the Deity (even though it makes no sense because The Deity doesn’t live on god-worlds).

H

In 64WDMS and 69UBIK. When you die, it’s not the end. If you are placed in cold-pac, the death throes of your brain can be picked up by the living, allowing you to communicate. Since your brain signals decay after death, you only have a limited amount of time in half-life, but this time can be spun out if you are revived for communication rarely.

A newspaper that filters the news so it only shows what you are interested in- these are beginning to exist now in the form of web robots. There’s a good description of what Phil imagined a homeopape to be in 69UBIK. Along with many SF predictions, there are anachronisms in the way the thing operates. The homeopape asks you what you want to read about. (the forefront of our technology), and then prints it on paper. It’s obvious that this was written before PCs were common.

HOMOSIMULACRIC

In the manner of an android. Appears in 69UBIK even though there are no Simulacra in the novel.

(from the latin “hubris”?) a drug that stimulates the anterior portion of the spetal region of the brain, increasing the alertness, cheerfulness and belief that everything will be OK in the taker. Approximates a setting on the Hammerstein Mood Organ (but more intense, since mood organ effects are restricted by law) close to the opening of Beethovens 16th quartet. “I can almost hum this drug” says Louis Rosen in 68WEBY.

I

Another name for an anti-psi. One who cancels out psionic ability in another. Inertials are usually members of Prudence organizations. 69UBIK

INTERCESSOR

A part of the polyencephalic theology of 70MAZE. He is a Manifestation of the Deity that can stand in for us collectively. The Intercessor arose as a result of the struggle between the Deity and the Form Destroyer, which took place over a very long time. The Intercessor offered himself as sacrifice by which The Curse could be partially nullified. This satisfied the Deity that this manifestation of Himself had been a partial victory. The Deity died and re-manifested himself to indicate that he had overcome the curse and hence death. Having done this, he moved up through concentric circles back to God himself. Since then, everything’s happened so fast. Now that we are in the Specktowsky period it’s easy to contact one of the Manifestations – this time is different from the first 2000 years since the Intercessor appeared. The Curse is lifted through him – we are released from our world and condition and see reality as it really is, without the modes of perception of space and time. In Maggie Walsh’s post-polyencephalic-death hallucination, the Intercessor flutters up from the hell-world and Maggie drifts away from the red smoky lights of the “wrong wombs”, carried by the warm wind of the Intercessor to a powerful flickering yellow light. The Intercessor is the only Manifestation to appear in the real world, not the polyencephalic construct in which most of the events of the novel take place. He appears to Seth Morely as he is about to kill himself and takes Seth away to be a desert plant, asleep but “aware of the sun and myself”. I suppose the hint here is that the theology that was invented for Delmak-O is the theology of the real world.

J

JAPE

to take the piss out of – to make fun of a stale theme. When a theme is harped on too much, you get parody. 56JAPE

JJ-180

A highly addictive drug, the nature of which alters throughout 66NWLY. Early in the novel, it makes you feel like you are in control of objects; you ‘know’ them well and they serve you. As the drug wears off this control reverts to how you are normally, and then things starts to get heavy and unfamiliar. You can’t pick things up . It is first taken by Kathy Sweetscent, wife of Eric Sweetscent. The supposed manufacturer of the drug changes as well. At first, it is supposed to be Made by Tijuana Fur and dye Co, but then it could be made by the Reegs. Then we suspect that Kathy was given the drug by secret agents from Lillistar. It turns out in the end that it was made on earth as a weapon AGAINST Lillistar. It is designed as a poison and was intended to be put in the water supply. It is addictive after a single exposure, causing damage to the liver and bloodstream that cannot be cured by artiforg replacement. Later in the book JJ-180 becomes a means of traveling in time, and still later we find that it allows the user to travel to parallel universes as well.

Electronic snoopers that spy on ordinary folk in the Morec society of 56JAPE. 1.5 feet long, they scuttle along the ground and walls at ferocious speed – they are oddly referred to as a species. They whirr as they surrender their tapes to committee representatives. The idea is that they only report what they see, so you are safe from hysterical heresay, malice and paranoia. But when you are caught, there is certainty about your actions – it is up to the courts to decide whether those actions were criminal.

K

The physical and emotional junk in the lives and households of Deckard and Jack Isadore in 68DADO. It builds up so much it almost smoothers Deckard, so he is forced to deal with all this kipple – his attitude to androids; his views on electric sheep; his wife; Mercerism – and either overcome it, or succumb to it. Note, however, that it’s the intrusion of Roy Baty into his life which forces this action and self examination upon him. This theme pops up again for example in 66NWLY; Here Dr. Eric Sweetscent is also under a pile of kipple, especially in relation to his wife and relationship to his employer. The novel in some ways is his journey to remove this kipple from his life, again forced upon him by the intrusion of President Molinari into his life. Kipple is also mentioned more flippantly in 69GAPH. Joe Fernwright is on the shore of Mare Nostrum, where Glimmung is submerged and possibly dead. Phrases idly run through Joe’s
head:

“Do you like Yeats?” “I don’t know, I’ve never had any.” “Do you like Kipling?” “I don’t know, I’ve never kippled.”

This is in reference to the ancient cartoon ( early 1900s New Yorker?), one of the most popular cartoons of all time. And in70MAZE: “I’ll pile her stuff outside and then get mine aboard. I’m under no mandate to load her kipple”. James Tiptree Jr. has also used the term.

KR-3

In 74FLOW, KR-3 is an experimental drug which disables the “time-binding” and
“space-binding” functions of the human brain. This can result in the radical alteration
of reality – and not just the reality of the user. It’s possible for someone to take the
drug and place somone esle in another reality.

M

minimax game; Minimax is the method of surviving the great game of life – invented by 20th century mathematicians Von Neumann and Morgenstern. The method was used in WWII, Korea and the Final War and became the basis of government in 2.5 centuries. It places great emphasis on the Aristotlean Golden Mean. Social situations are analogous to strategy games like poker. So a system for poker will work like a system for society. If you act randomly, you avoid acting foolishly under the deception of your opponents. You can then use regular statistical methods to succeed. Opponents are then forced to give up deception and adopt a rational proceedure. There are two parts to the M-Game
(55SOLO)

MacMillan did basic stuff on robots and created witless hulks – glorified vacuum cleaners, stoves and dumb waiters – big string things to lift stuff so the unks can lie down and sleep (MacMillan was pro-unk) – no more unk slaves and labourers. e.g. MacMillan taxis “all right sir or madam” – not capable of fine descrimination. waiters, newsmachines and heavy duty weapons can all be of the MacMillan type. An early description of Autonomic?

MAGNA MATER SCHIZOPHRENIA

A type of ‘phrenia according to Anderson theory where the embodiment of your consciousness is projected out onto the cosmos, where it is perceived and worshiped. Louis Rosen’s fixation with Pris Frauenzimmer is the result of such an illness. So-called after the great female deity cults of the Mediterranean at the time of the Mycenaean civilization, examples of which are Ishtar, Cybele, Attis, Athene and the virgin Mary. 68WEBY

Unspecified law which makes it necessary for compulsory testing for mental illness because “a truly psychotic individual could on his own never seek aid” 68WEBY

MEKKIS

Ganymedian worm and ruler of the Bale of Tenessee in 67GANY. See the entry on the Building for a possible source of the word.

MENTUFACTURER

another part of the Deity in 70MAZE, responsible for brining the universe into being and starting time in motion. Address a prayer to him if you want to roll back time and take a different path. Cause of coming into being unknown, but Specktowsky claimed that the Mentufacturer was self-creating, existing out of time and causality. A condensation of “firmament” and “manufacturer” ?

MERCER

An entity that humans “merge” with using an empathy box. By showing that they are able to empathize with another person, they also show that they are not androids. The grim gag here is that to prove you are human, you have to empathize with a machine.68DADO

A drink from Callisto, which has a methane atmosphere. A sort of amber coloured whisky. Made by 1000’s of slaves

MIN

to miniaturize anything. Lots of spy-type devices are often minned in PKD books

MOOD ORGAN68DADO. Developed from the brain-mapping of the mid-1960s
and the discoveries about the mid-brain (hypothalamus) and depth-electrode
techniques of Penfield, Jacobson & Olds. The keys of the organ trigger
off different depth-electrodes in the hypothalamus, allowing one’s mood to
be adjusted artificially – and even to produce entirely new emotions. The
Hammerstein Mood Organ and the Waldteufel Euphoria are just such instruments,
and render the conventional musical organs obsolete. (68WEBY)

N

NANNY

A robot attendant that protects children like a huge mechanical dog. Originally from the short story 55NANN, which is obliquely referred to in 68WEBY as appearing in the fictional magazine Thrilling Wonder Stories.

NEBBISH

Unstylish “..nebbish clothes that Mary’s collected in her jay-bird manner. Selecting whatever bright and gaudy”70MAZE. In 68WEBY, a nebbish is “..just another flunky type..you see in downtown business sections of every city in the US”.

O

OCCIFER

Joel Smith was tickled to find that the police title is “Occifer”. This is definitely not a typo and pops up frequently. 70OFFF

OPERATION 50 MINUTES

The name of the project to rehabilitate the colonists of the Alphane moon. So – called because American psychiatrists in the ’50’s and ’60’s used to charge an hourly rate for a fifty minute session 64CLAN.

OPTUS

Martian trader in 52BWUB. Wears a cloak that Captain Franco steps on in an early bit of slapstick.

OSTRICHES

loonies who remain on the planet-wide “aviary” of earth, “shut up in the sand-pile because they can’t take the pressure of emigrating from the planet” 70MAZE

OTHER WORLD

The off-world sanitarium of the health resort in 56JAPE, on Vega 4. It is the antithesis of the morec society.

P

PAC-PEOP

Pacific Peoples. One side in the war that preceeded the events in 64PENT

the android Keith Pellig, young, thin, blonde. An assassin picked by the convention. Controlled remotely by a group of people and switches randomly from person to person so that teeps can’t follow him. (when all minds leave, Pellig is a vegetable) A single person can only run Pellig for 2 hours – then claustrophobia sets in. You have to be hooked up to implementation machinery. Has a thumb-gun – fires energy on a heat beam principle. Can fly and travel in deep space. The personality twitch isn’t random so Moore can decide who is inside Pellig when he dies.

PERSUS 9

The stranded ship in 70MAZE. Each crew member is tatooed with this name somewhere on their bodies – I dunno why.

An inebriated state of some sort that loosens up one’s wallet. You can get pizzled on papapot 69UBIK, or by “pizzling away at the bottle 70MAZE. Alternatively, from 55AFAC, a survivor of the Total Global Conflict attempts to confuse a robot factory representative by rejecting a product as pizzled, describing the word to mean “the condition of a product that is manufactured when no need exists. It indicates the rejection of objects on the grounds that they are no longer wanted.”

A sort of lottery ticket given to everyone on the planet. If your’s is selected by the bottle, you become Quizmaster. There is a 1 in six billion chance of a p-card coming up. You give it up when you take a fealty oath to a Hill, but it must be returned if an oath is severed from above. Unks either give p-cards to Hills or sell them on the black market for 2 dollars. You lose your power card if you assasinate the Quizmaster unsanctioned by the challenge convention.

The whole Prestion thing in 55SOLO shifts about so much it’s difficult to describe coherently …John Preston wrote crazed/prophetic books about a 10th planet in our solar system called “Flame Disc”. Preston was an odd-ball astronomer – when observations couldn’t find this planet, he set off to look for it in his ship and died. The goal of the society is to send a ship beyond the “colony planets” – beyond the regions controlled by the Directorate. And to find Flame Disc. Next to the society building is the crypt of Preston, a dummy of whom is sealed in a plasti-cube there. The Plasti-cube is vacuum-sealed – if opened (and if Preston’s corpse was actually in there), Preston’s body would be pulverised. The real Preston is alive on Flame Disc. He gives a clue about this in his books (one is called “Unicorn”) when he speaks of the voices that will guide us. The voices speak in your mind – this happens even though when people arrive at Flame Disc Preston would be 150ish. Preston really just wanted a society where everyone had a real chance of winning. On Flame disc, there’s a spherical building that contains a Preston in a nourishing suspension bath. The sphere is one of 1000’s of buouys acting as guides to flame disc. put there by Preston. The bath is a volatile substance to project a vid image onto the Preston replica. The real Preston died a few years after finding Flame Disc. See what I mean about being vague?

PRINTER

A creature that can make exact replicas of objects. Biltongs 56PAPR, Tench and unicellular organisms in 66NWLY all print things. In 65STIG, everything but Skins can be printed. In 70MAZE there is a flea-sized printer that just produces copies of Specktowsky’s book.

Boss of Earth. Maximum 13 year term. position 1. In early 20th century underconsumption plagued society – things were burned because people couldn’t afford them. But they could win them in a quiz. Eventually it became possible to win power and prestige in the quiz. The top position became quizmaster – the dispenser of power.

R

RANDOM-PAINTINGS

55SOLO – shifting swirls of random colour that decorate the Quizmasters office – symbolic of the society he rules?

S

Opium-based drug, named after Wade Scenara the drug’s inventor. 70OFFF

SCRAMBLE SUIT

worn by Bob Arctor in 77SCAN as a means of concealing his identity whilst giving a lecture. The scramble suit is a thin membrane which displays different features of different faces etc. to blur your own features. The face of it’s inventor appears once every twenty (?) odd years.

SEMI-MATTER

Substance between matter and anti-matter which
can absorb either. Morgo the Frolixian in 70OFFF claimed to be made of this.

A Synthetic human “I always thought of as a
robot” in 68WEBY. Used for Lunar exploration originally, but if the ruling
monad guidance system is fed an entire body of data pertaining to a character (UCLA
transcribes the data into instruction punch-tape for you), then a Simulacra can
take on the personality of that person. A prototype of Edwin M Stanton cost 6000
dollars to build. Then they built an Abraham Lincoln. Sam K Barrows, entrepreneur
wanted to populate new towns on the moon with simulacra so that the first human
colonists wouldn’t be lonely (see also famnexdo).

SKIN

A form of currency- the skin of a fungus- the only thing that cannot be reproduced by replicating organisms (see printers), and therefore the only thing that can be used as money. Must get awful smelly…65STIG

SLAVE SATELLITE

Orbits Delmak-O with taped instructions of the colonists mission. But the tape fails 70MAZE.

Humans who’s genes have deteriorated due to radiation in 68DADO. They are considered sub-human by non-specials and are not allowed to emigrate off-planet. A typical Dickian Underclass – note that this underclass is called SPECIAL and not disabled/mutants etc- very PC! In 68WEBY, Special birth persons are similar radioactive mutants – Chester Rosen’s eyes and mouth have swapped places for example. Sometimes an embryo is born in pieces – a jaw, an arm, teeth, fingers, like a kit that no glue in the world would stick together. Eeeeeugh!

SPECKTOWSKY

Egon Specktowsky was the captain of the Persus 9, but was killed in the unspecified accident which stranded the ship forever 70MAZE. His crew name him as the author of the book “How I rose from the dead in my spare time and so can you”, but change his initials to A J (an example of PKD not cross-checking things?). In the crew’s polyencephalic world, AJS was a 21st century theologian and is cited as discovering the true nature of the Deity in that world. He specifies five time
periods: the first was the period of purity before the Form Destroyer was awakened; the second is the period of the curse when the Deity was weakest and FD the most powerful; Then there was the birth of God-on-Earth; Currently god walks the world redeeming the suffering now and all life later through the Intercessor; Lastly, there is the period of the Final Audit. PKD defined this theology with William Sarill from Judaism, Christianity, Mohammedism, Zoroastrianism and Tibetian Bhuddism based on the postulate that God Exists.

In 70OFFF, it’s a kind of hover car, steered with a tiller and has a boat-like description. In 70MAZE, it’s a planet-bound flying ship “size B” with an autopilot, that can be guided to land by an RK beam

STIGMATA

In 65STIG, The three Stigmata are the physical alterations to Palmer Eldritch’s body- metal teeth, Metal eyes with slit-lenses, and a metal arm. Originate in PKD’s father’s WWI gas mask

STINK OF SHRINK

Non-existent weapon of biological war. Like the BAG PLAGUE, but with the opposite effect “your head diminishes in size, features included, to the circumference of a marble” 64PENT

some kind of device to control the ‘politically correct behavior’ of citizens. It’s “an artificially evolved telepathic metazoan.” It’s purpose was to stop war by ensuring that everyone maintained the same ideology 55SERV. Swibbles are undefined household devices in 64PENT.

SWORD OF CHEMOSH

Tony Dunklewelt obtains this from the Deity through meditation and slays the Form Destroyer with it. But we find that it was Bert Kosler he killed in reality 70MAZE

T

part of the Directorate – telepaths. The corps is a family, above man. Teeping is like hearing – if people within range think, you’ll pick it up. Teeps all come from San Fransico because during the Final War a soviet missile hit research installations at Livermore – survivours badly BATHED. Teeps are all descendants of Earl and Verna Phillips…teeps find out every strategy devised to beat minimax. Teeps find assassins and make his job very difficult. Have a SUPRALOBE which if destroyed nulls their power.

TEKKEL UPHARSIM KIBBUTZ

Colony from which Seth Morley and his wife set off for Delmak-O 70MAZE. PKD tells us that Tekkel Upharsim means “he has weighed and now they divide” in Aramaic, but I’ve no idea what the significance of this is. It’s a reference to the biblical story of (some king) who saw, literally, the handwriting on the wall. What the hand wrote was “Mene Mene Tekkel Upharsim”. I’d be grateful for any further information from any bible-readers out there…

TENCH

Strange creatures which inhabit Delmak-O. The less feeble of which are capable of printing (cf 56PAPR) .If a tench prints a pen, the copy decays (“puddles”), but the ink in writing remains ok. Questions to the Grand Tench can be asked by placing pieces of paper in front of it. An answer is exuded from the body on a similar piece of paper (Tench have no vocal organs). Back on the Persus 9, TENCH 889B is the ship’s computer 70MAZE.

we don’t find out what turrets are – but Cartwright worked at a turret factory as a mechanic.

U

UBIK

Ubik itself is a spray to stop objects regressing to a form they had in earlier time, e.g. a TV goes back to a valve radio. Trouble is, Ubik itself regresses to a point where it’s magic ingredient isn’t there. It’s a contraction of ubiquity 69UBIK

V

Used by the Russians to test for mental illness – you have to classify the blocks correctly. 68WEBY

VISRECORD

like a video disc for 3D films. A film of a Tolkien story is watched in 70MAZE.

VOIGT-KAMPFF TEST

The test that is used to differentiate androids from real human beings. 68DADO

VUG

Alien invaders in 63GAME

W

WALKER-ON-EARTH

The manifestation of the Deity (in 70MAZE) that travels the universe helping folk in the Specktowsky period. He advises Seth Morely that the Morbid Chicken will not get them to Delmak-O. A kind of “anti-person from Porlock, instead of interfering with a good process or event, he…”

WASH-35

The Martian replica of 1935 Washington DC which Kathy Sweetscent’s Artiforg-supported boss Virgil Ackerman maintains as a hobby to remember his boyhood. Note that PKD was a small boy in 1935, so Virgil’s memories of this time were probably adapted from PKD’s.

WES-DEM

Western Democracies? one side in the war that preceded the events in 64PENT

The robot in 69GAPH who insists you always say “Willis, …” when addressing it

WUB

An alien/Martian 400lb pig-like organism in 52BWUB. But when killed, it seems to take possession of your mind – so the 400lb pig might just be a victim of the wub. The Wub also appears in 68NOCO, which deals
with a Wub and the Water Union and the power struggle that plays large in 64MATS. Wubs are mentioned but never seen in 69GAPH

WUBFUR

A commonly encountered (sometimes) expensive material (used as mink would be used, I guess). A wub is a creature that invades/takes the form of other creatures 52BWUB, so it shouldn’t really have a “fur”…this is a typical PKD in-joke….wubfur is used to make carpets and slippers in 64PENT. There’s also a short story (Vol 5 I think) in which the Wubfur is used to bind books and the Wubfur alters the text of the book to suit it’s idealogical standpoint. So they decide to bind a bible in it. Also found in 65STIG.

Y

YAH

(from Yahweh, or Jehovah, “God”) The Supreme Being as featured in 81DIVI. A pagan deity who has great plans for a theological overtaking of Earth by appearing on the little planet of CY30-CY30B, secretly impregnating the Terran emigrant Rybys Rommey, instructing her emigrant colleague Herb Asher to marry her and sending them to Earth so that He will be reborn there as a human being (talk about mysterious ways).

YANCY

President. And when he died, they made a robot to do his job 64PENT. President Yancy is also discussed in 55YANC.

THE PENULTIMATE TRUTH (novel)
Man emerges from underground to find
peace, greenery and propaganda. Based on several short stories: 53DEFN, 53SECV,
55YANC. (Note that the Hebrew for tooth is “shin”, which is also the
penultimate letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Is PT a play on “The penultimate tooth”?)

64PREC

PRECIOUS ARTEFACT (short story)

64SIMA

THE SIMULACRA (novel)
The “classical jugs” parts of this book were adapted to form 64NOVA.

64UNCH

A GAME OF UNCHANCE (short story)

64UNTM

THE UNTELEPORTED MAN (novel)
Original version of 67LIES. German fascists run the UN, but is there a second earth?

64WATS

WATERSPIDER (short story)

64WDMS

WHAT THE DEAD MEN SAY (short story)

Can a dead entrepreneur get his choice of President elected? Used in 69UBIK

65CRAP

CONFESSIONS OF A CRAP ARTIST (novel)
Straight fiction. Written 1960s.

65DRBL

DR BLOODMONEY, OR HOW WE GOT ALONG AFTER THE BOMB. (novel)
An eternally orbiting DJ helps unite post-nuclear war earth.

65HUMP

HUMPTY DUMPTY IN OAKLAND (novel)
Straight fiction. Written 1960s.

65MILT

IN MILTON LUMKY TERRITORY (novel)
Straight fiction. Written 1960s.

65RETS

RETREAT SYNDROME (short story)

65STIG

THE THREE STIGMATA OF PALMER ELDRITCH (novel)
Palmer returns from Prox after a messy encounter with a God who behaves in ways we can’t understand.

66CRAC

THE CRACK IN SPACE (novel)
The excess population is frozen and put to sleep.

66HOLQ

HOLY QUARREL (short story)

66NWLY

NOW WAIT FOR LAST YEAR (novel)
Artiforg sugeon helps Mussolini-like president in wrangle with Reegs (= Nazi axis) and Lillistar (= Allies).

66RETM

RETURN MATCH (short story)

66WHOL

WE CAN REMEMBER IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE (short story)

66YEST

YOUR APPOINTMENT WILL BE YESTERDAY (short story)

became 67COCW

67COCW

COUNTER-CLOCK WORLD (novel)
Books are unwritten, the dead are revived and unearthed. every day men apply little packets of stubble to their faces…

Anyone have any idea what the origin of “pursaps” in The Zap Gun is? Sap is a synonym for a kind of fool; does the end come from that? And what does ‘pur’ come from?

Some of his words, like conapt, are pretty easy to figure out, but I’m struggling with this one. Doesn’t really detract from the story not knowing it though, as you are told that the pursaps are the ~90% of society that is being fed information by the military-government-industrial complex and are not active in the decision-making.

Pursaps refers to the people who have fallen for the ruse that they are making weapons. PKDism for “Pure Saps”. In an interview, while he doesn’t make mention of this directly, he does refer to certain people – even naming names in some cases – as being “a pure sap”.

Philip K. Dick

An online community for followers of Philip K. Dick, old and new, along with the promotion of his work and the sharing of information, text, audio or visual that pertains to his life, his work and his legacy. Includes news, articles, criticism, interviews, biography, synopses of major works, reviews, links, and much more.

The Man In The High Castle Season 3 - Official Trailer | Prime Video ow.ly/8l4V30lyZEL #‎PhilipKDick #PhilipDick #TMITHC #HighCastle #ResistanceRisesFight for the World You Want. Watch #HighCastle 10/5 only on Prime Video.#ResistanceRises. Pride (In The Name of Love) by Lxandra: bit.ly/Lxandra For ... ...

‘The cross took the form of a crossbow, with Christ as the arrow…’ The interview with Philip K. Dick embedded below, recorded in Santa Ana on May 17, 1979, touches on many of the author’s experiences and obsessions—the combat his father saw in World War I, how he came to join the Episco...